The Load Letter — June 10, 2026

Fuel prices aren't a blip — they're a siege, inflation just got confirmed by DC Velocity and the NAM, and your cost structure is getting rewritten whether you've priced for it or not. Today's briefing covers why the fuel surcharge conversation needs to happen with your shippers now before summer contracts lock you into rates that bleed you, Amazon opening its LTL network to all shippers as a direct shot at your consumer-goods LTL book and exactly which freight stays defensible, and manufacturing hitting a four-year high as your green light for industrial dry van — paired with a warning that import volumes are front-loaded and forecast to weaken into fall. We also get into SONAR's new Accepted Truckload Volume Index as a cleaner demand signal than tender rejection rates, organized cargo theft crews hitting Arizona rail corridors up to a dozen times a month alongside a DAT warning about summer smishing attacks targeting your load board credentials, and a new Port of Long Beach green truck corridor between the port and California's Central Valley. Price fuel like it's the new floor. Lock industrial relationships while manufacturing is hot. And don't let a strong June write a check your fall can't cash.